K12OS.org K12LTSP.org K12Linux.org FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Software Freedom Day Celebration - August 30th, 2002 Portland, Oregon
- June 2, 2002 The Linux in Schools
Project in Portland, Oregon is hosting a Software Freedom Day Celebration
on August 30th. Schools in Oregon are
saving money by using free software. This year Portland Public Schools saved
over $240,000. Multnomah County Education Service District savings totaled
more than $190,000. Software Freedom is more
than just saving money though. It's about the freedom of software code. Software
published under the General
Public License (GPL) is called Open Source software. The GPL license
requires that the software code remain free for end users to inspect and
improve. Linux in Schools Project
co-founder, Paul Nelson says, "This is a whole new way of developing software.
Programmers from all over the world collaborate over the Internet and the
result is better software that is free. It is free in terms of cost and free
to improve. And our students love it!" One year ago, in July of 2001, the Linux in Schools Project with the help
of the Portland Linux/Unix
Users Group (PLUG) released K12LTSP (K12 Linux Terminal Server Project),
a package of Open Source software for classrooms now used in over 5000 schools
around the world. This month K12LTSP released its second major update, K12LTSP
version 2.1. The software is free to download from the K12LTSP.org
web site. A typical installation of a Windows(tm) OS based computer lab of 20 workstations may cost more than $20,000 while the same lab running K12LTSP would cost less than than $6,000. Reusing legacy hardware can reduce that cost to less than $2,000. Software Freedom Day is a celebration of the successful partnership between PLUG users and Oregon schools. The celebration is open to everyone and will be held at Riverdale School from 10:00 am to 12:00 noon on August 39th.
www.k12ltsp.org << Main K12LTSP site with links to download software www.k12linux.org << Linux in Schools Project web site www.k12os.org << Discussion, forum and news site for Linux in Schools http://k12ltsp.org/software_freedom.html << Information on Software Freedom Day Event www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html << Information on the GPL License Recent News Releases about Linux in Schools: Steve Duin's Article from the Oregonian on the Microsoft Audit of PNW schools. Steve Duin's follow up to first article - For schools, it's Microsoft's way or the free way Linux in education: Open Source provides a better solution for schools - from Newsforge.org Graduation Day for Linux - from LinuxPlanet.com Linux: A new choice for classroom desktops - OETC Newsletter: Fall 2001 Contact Information: Paul Nelson pnelson@riverdale.k12.or.us
Eric Harrison eharrison@mail.mesd.k12.or.us
### |